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Sunday, February 05, 2012

The Sunday Salon - A Mixed Bag Week

Happy Sunday morning, everyone! I have a breakfast casserole in the oven, a cup of coffee beside me, and a book open on the bed. I stayed up entirely too late finishing Ann Patchett's State of Wonder for my 2012 Tournament of Books personal reading challenge. I did have the luxury of sleeping until almost 9:00 this morning, and I almost never do that. I'm rested and ready for the day. I'll take some more time to read books and blog posts after I post assignments for my online classes. Fun fun fun. While today is slated to be relaxing, the earlier part of the week was not so great.

This past week was the most stressful I've had in a while. I mentioned in a blog post a while back that my job will eventually be going away. With that in mind, we had some very important visitors on campus one day this week, and while I do not have blood pressure problems in the least, their visit alone made my head feel like it was going to explode. Long story. Not a story for the blog, but it was suitably heavy to make me glad to see the end of the week.

My job is still secure for now--every day is business as usual--but it was still enough to take a toll on my writing and reading habits this week. The good news is that I've been poking around online, and there are some interesting prospects posted here and there. Not a ton of jobs, but a few that excite me. I would like to get into a more significant position in the online education sector. If I could work from home I would soil myself with glee. Seriously. Cross your fingers.

The weekend has been much better. In fact, yesterday was super bookish. I met up with my former graduate school colleague and good buddy, TheOtherFeminist, for Chinese food and book talk. I pulled up at the restaurant a touch early and got a table for some reading. Fem came in a few minutes late. All told, we got the party started around noon and the next thing we knew we'd talked until 4:00!!! Any time we get together we have scads to discuss, and much of it is related to teaching and reading and literary theory and all that awesome stuff.

We started brainstorming a new anthology of short stories we're affectionately calling The Kickass, Bookgasmic Anthology of Undersung Short Stories. You'd buy it, right?! The whole idea is that most of the anthologies for teaching literature (and simply reading!) have the same old stuff in them. We started a list of lesser-known stories we think would blow professors' and students' skirts up. We also have a penchant for the twisted, FYI. *wink*

We also talked about what we've been reading lately and what's on the docket for later. And of course, there were recommendations, and iPhone e-mailing of recommendations. You know how it goes when book nuts gather. It's rare that I get to indulge in heavy book talk with a face-to-face buddy. We have plans to get together at a Real Bookstore soon and do it all again!

While the week started out rocky, it certainly ended strong. This coming week should be much more even keel (knock on wood). I hope your weekend is wrapping up right and you'll be off to a good start tomorrow.